


Seeing Red

by musesmistress



Category: Fringe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-11
Updated: 2011-10-11
Packaged: 2017-10-24 12:43:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/263589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesmistress/pseuds/musesmistress





	Seeing Red

The water dripped again. The rhythmic tapping against the stainless steal sink was only heightening Olivia Dunham’s already tense state of mind. She knew it wasn’t helping her think things through; she knew all she had to do was get up and turn the tap off properly. But at that moment in time the only comfortable place in her apartment was right were she was.

The floor by her door wasn’t particularly comfortable; her backside had started to go numb hours ago in protest. Yet she didn’t care - from here she had a view of the whole place, more or less. Everything was tainted red. Red – as she was suddenly becoming aware of, was a horrible and foreboding colour that made her think of blood and the two faced doppelganger who had stolen her life and boyfriend.

She hated everything right now; the sofa where she and Peter had cuddled. The bathroom where her things had been touched, moved and used, her tub never seemed to come clean. Her bed was covered in the reminder that another woman had slept in it, not only slept, but had sex in it. She hated the bedroom the most. Along with that, the closet in her bedroom was filled with clothes the other Olivia had worn, clothes she’s put on in a well executed attempt to play the part of the real Olivia Dunham.

Olivia wondered if anyone had told her the opposite had happened there. She pictured Walternate explaining with a sardonic grin that he’d brainwashed her duplicate and placed her in her life, in her apartment and job, just to see if they could learn the secrets of crossing over.

She’d taken the Cortexiphan from the lab, but even now, days later, she wondered if they had found her hiding place or if they’d already broken down the substances to create their own unique blend of destruction. It had taken a while, but she’d realised who she was, figured out – with Peter’s help – that she wasn’t in the right universe. It had been easy after that to just play along with everyone else, to just slip into their way of living and her evil twin’s life. Did the other Olivia hate her apartment and belongs just as much now?

Olivia looked around at the table beside the door, a picture of her and Ella in a black frame sat grinning at her. She knew it was stupid, but it didn’t feel as though her face was the one in that photo anymore, that it hadn’t been her hand that placed it in the frame and set it down on that table. But she knew she had.

The dripping tapped flooded back through her brain and she reached out and smacked the frame off the table. It shattered on the floor face down and all Olivia could do was stare at it.

She needed to get out, get away from here, get new furniture, make new memories with Ella and Rachel. She pushed up off the floor, ignoring the stiffness in her ankles and knees and the numbness in her buttocks and walked into the kitchen. The hate of the room tried to rush her as she stepped in and slapped the tap handle to the side to turn it off – even the water was dripping red, but she wouldn’t let it have her.

She dropped into the chair behind her laptop, abandoned from her earlier attempt to work (Saturdays at home alone were always boring) and opened up the rental and property listing for the area. This was what she needed, a new start. Somewhere fresh that wasn’t tainted by the evil of the other side. Somewhere bright and airy that she could feel welcomed in and above all, somewhere empty she could furnish and fill with things that only belonged to her.

She made a call and arranged to see a few places later that day, before she shut the machine down and looked around the kitchen. She’d have to buy and furnish every room with every possible thing you could think of. Olivia had to reminder herself to start with the essentials, a bed to sleep in, a chair to sit in, a table to work and eat at. Cooker and fridge for food could come later – she was used to take-out – but she’d really need to start somewhere.

Above all, she needed to get new clothes and sheets. It wouldn’t matter how many times she washed everything, they always came out the same way – covered in red.

She sat back, staring up at the ceiling, wishing there was an easier way, a way to make everything normal again. It had been a dream to get home, to finally be free of the watchful and hatred eye of the crazy horror that was Walternate’s reality. The differences between the Walter’s were frightening and worst of all, only one man had been the deciding force between crazy silly and crazy psychopathic – William Bell.

It was amazing the difference one man could make, or one small event. It was this thought that made her stand up and grab her coat – pausing to attempt to shake off the red – and turn to the door to find it open and Peter Bishop standing in the doorway.

“I still have a key,” he said. She didn’t reply; she didn’t know how to respond to the comment. “I was worried about you.”

“I’m fine,” she said. It was an automatic response these days and she winced with the realisation that he’d guess that. “Sorry.”

Peter nodded. “I’ve been thinking about it,” he said, moving only enough to pull the key from the door and let his hand drop to his side. “I think I know why I thought she was you.”

“I don’t need or want justification, Peter.”

“Yes you do and so do I. Walter had me stuck on his vagenda idea, that she’d used her vagina to trick me.” Olivia looked away. “It didn’t start like that. I thought something was different when we first came back, I watched you,” he faltered. “Her, like the plague for a few days, but the only things I could see that were different were my feelings and hers, yours.” He reached up and massaged his temples between thumb and forefinger. Olivia knew how he felt – the whole thing was one big headache.

“Can we start again?” she said. Peter just blinked at her. “Can we go back to being friends and see if we can start again, slowly work into... that?”

“Yeah, sure, definitely.”

Olivia nodded, her mind and body relaxing and the red draining a little from the man in front of her. “I’m gonna need that key,” she said with a small smile. “I just arranged some viewings of new apartments and I’m giving this one up as soon as I find a new one.”

“New start with me, new apartment. What else are you changing?”

Olivia’s smile widened. “Come shopping with me and you’ll find out.”


End file.
